[3] The author of the following Letters, who owed the publication of them to the liberality of the editor of the PILOT, complained of the refusal of the editor of the TIMES to admit into that paper a vindication of character, though he had opened his pages to the blaster of it. As newspapers in modern times have erected themselves into a kind of tribunal of the dernier resort, the editors should not forget the indispensable maxim of all courts of justice, and _concede alteri parti occasionem audiri_ should be a standing rule with them, or they must submit to pass for the star-chambers of jacobinism, or of some other party. [4] D'Alembert said to one of his intimates, with whom he had been to hear the celebrated sermon preached by P. Beauregard against the apostles of infidelity, "These men die hard." [5] The passage above cited, though not published with his name, is well known to have proceeded from the pen of M. de Lally Tolendal. [6] It is well known, that the Dutch, at this time, did every thing in their power to undermine the Portuguese in Japan, and that they fabricated tales of the Jesuits to alarm the government, which, they said, was to be subverted, the emperor to be dethroned, and the people made slaves to the pope. In consequence of these slanders, no Christian was suffered in the empire; when, to preserve their commerce, the Dutch abjured Christianity, and, in proof of their sincerity, consented to tread publicly upon the cross at certain times. [7] Encyclopedia Britannica. [8] Spirit of Laws, book v, chap. 14. [9] Robertson's Charles V, vol. iii, page 224. [10] See Sully's Memoirs. [11] This passage is also from the pen of M. Lally Tolendal.--When I was at Paris, in the autumn of 1814, he was engaged on the Life of Charles I, of England. After the return of Bonaparte, Louis XVIII appointed him one of his ministers. [12] See Letter IV. [13] This, if well executed, would be a very interesting work, and it is not impossible, that it may be attempted. [14] See Letter III. [15] Lord Clarendon, vol. i, page 73. [16] Hume's History of England, vol. vi, page 297, &c. [17] Hume's History of England, vol. vi, page 378. [18] On the subject of the popish plots, see Dr. Milner's Letters to a Prebendary.